I have successfully built a Gigatron and I chose to use IC sockets. See attached pics.
Why use sockets? It allowed me to assemble the board and then test the sockets for power and shorts before inserting the ICs. Also, prevented too much heat being used when soldering and if an IC was faulty I could easily replace it.
I'm glad to say the Gigatron powered up and worked first time.

If you want to use sockets then here are a couple of tips to consider:

1) I used a jig to hold the board when soldering.
2) To help soldering each socket,I first used a tiny amount of glue to hold each socket in place and then soldered when the glue was set. I applied the glue to the ends of the socket with a small screwdriver.

It is good to know that a socketed Gigatron works without any modification.

This makes the workstation more hackable and one can plug in ECL gates with a few further modifications. Great work for posterity. Also allows for easier oscilloscoping, chip-tuning and such. That to my mind is well worth the extra money, complexity and (negligible I believe) extra potential for failure.

Even though I agree that price is extremely excessive, too be a little more fair it's a high quality socket with a high quality decoupling Capacitor already connected in place.

These types of sockets can save you time and money in PCB design/layout, circuit testing and offer increased operational longevity; especially for designs for high profile prototypes.

Imagine having built a prototype of the next big thing and demonstrating it in front of investors and/or potential clients, extra expenditure in these sorts of areas can pay off big time; not just in increased reliability and saving of prototyping time, but also probably more importantly, in the presentation of your product to your clients who you are trying to milk...err persuade.

I have successfully built a Gigatron and I chose to use IC sockets. See attached pics.
Why use sockets? It allowed me to assemble the board and then test the sockets for power and shorts before inserting the ICs. Also, prevented too much heat being used when soldering and if an IC was faulty I could easily replace it.
I'm glad to say the Gigatron powered up and worked first time.

If you want to use sockets then here are a couple of tips to consider:

1) I used a jig to hold the board when soldering.
2) To help soldering each socket,I first used a tiny amount of glue to hold each socket in place and then soldered when the glue was set. I applied the glue to the ends of the socket with a small screwdriver.